Greenport Village avoided Irene’s wrath

While most of the North Fork remains without power, with few exceptions, Greenport Village is up and running, Mayor David Nyce said.

Most villagers had electricity by Sunday afternoon. Fourth, Fifth and Sixth street residents regained power about 8 p.m. Those along Bay Avenue and merchants in downtown were back up by about 10 p.m.

“We got lucky,” Mr. Nyce said of the storm, which brought a lot of wind, but less rain than had been expected. Although docks at Claudio’s and Preston’s were under water at high tide Sunday, it was only by a couple of inches spared Mitchell Park, he said. The same was true of the area around Stirling Basin.

The village is asking the public’s cooperation in the next 24 hours to limit electric consumption.

Utilities crews were continuing Monday morning to clear streets of limbs and debris and to restore power to the few customers whose service is still out. Crews are replacing downed poles and there may be brief service disruptions during that process, according to village clerk Sylvia Lazzari Pirillo.

Anyone experiencing power problems should call Village Hall at 477-0172.

During the storm, the village used its generators as needed, Mr. Nyce said. But once the storm appeared to abate Sunday afternoon, electric department workers began shutting down them down. A Long Island Power Authority transmission failure farther west on Long Island knocked out villagers as well as residents in surrounding areas.

While the main trunk line that feeds the village is back up, secondary lines from the transformer remained down Monday morning.

Throughout the storm, crews worked furiously as falling trees brought down power lines, the mayor said.

While crews weren’t required to work in winds of more than 55 mph, Mr. Nyce said they did “and did an absolutely amazing job.” National Weather Service cooperative observer Leonard Llewellyn of Mattituck said the wind in Greenport reached 55 mph. He also reported total rainfall in Greenport of 1.98 inches, a far cry from the 5 to 10 inches rain had been predicted.

Merchants who boarded up their stores along Front Street prior to the storm were busy Monday morning removing the plywood. Sandbags that many merchants placed in their doorways in fear of flooding were found to be unnecessary.